I couldn't help but laugh at that story. I can just picture some idiots that I know banging into walls in straight jackets (intentionally). XD

02-16-2009

Jim Warfield

Don't Those Instructions Say..

"When wearing this device (St. Jacket) only move in the dark if you lost your hammer and you want to punch the walls with your face!"

Many years ago a repeat customer of mine asked me if he could just run through my house?
I said, "No, you will hurt yourself, running into a wall or something."
"No I won't!" Then he took off running!
He was gone for a few minutes then came shuffling back, holding his forehead, moaning...
"See?"
No blood= no foul.
Some local kids would return and try to show off by running through some part of my house which made it necesarry for me to change things to keep them from attaining any real success doing this. Screw a door closed, open a secret panel..... "Did you just heard something like a mellon hitting a baseball bat?"
I have signage all over here ,"No Running-No Running!"
Sure chasing them through may increase "Throughput" but doesn't giving out band-aids and emergency medical treatment also slow down "Throughput"?
I know, you smarter guys make money renting out crutches and ankle braces and those big stretchy bandages.

02-17-2009

EngineerofFear

Customers "taking advantage" of your scene.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Warfield

Could they break something? Then that "something" would be laying in the middle of your path?
Or a customer decides to squat down to scare you!
Are display props securely fastened down?
Just a soft ,felt cowboy hat laying there in the dark, catching you at the beginning of your stride could cause a stumbling/falling potential problem.
I know my house very well too and walk through it in the dark sometimes but I usually only do this to surprise an actual ghost, or raccoon, stray cat or someone hanging back trying to do mischief although when groups are here to play Hide & Seek it is fun to sneak up on some of them for a good scare opportunity.
Many years ago a 3rd grader told his classmates that he was sneaking into my house at night. I never caught him but then guess what? as a high school senior he got arrested for sneaking into homes and molesting women!
He is now in a location that is VERY difficult to sneak out of.
You never know what might be waiting in the dark.

As a personal policy I immediately break character and warn the customer of their transgressions. If they are a cool person they'll understand, if not, they'll only get themselves in trouble by repeating their offense.

Here is my rational:

You have auditioned and or put hard work and time to get ready and get your scene set up. A customer hiding in your scene is ruining your scare. A customer "taking advantage" of the scene will undoubtedly endanger themselves or others.
Perhaps they are hiding in your running path and will cause you to injure yourself and them. They maybe hiding in the path of a prop and could get seriously injured. They might injure another in their group and cause an major incident. Any number of scenarios you might never imagine could happen, so handling the situation seriously is the only way to dissolve it. This is why I break character to address the customer who tries to steal my scares.

The last incident in which a costumer tried to run ahead of his group at my haunt ended with him running forehead first at full speed into my chainsaw. Was it my fault? Absolutely not, I was doing my job and scaring with my cues, in this case a shadow on the wall that gave me the signal the group was about to pass. This guy (shorter man) turned the corner as I lunge and ends up feeling the full force of my rush coupled with his drunken sprint. In this case I broke character to make sure he was okay, he had been warned once so he knew it was against the rules.

So to sum up, I advise you to always stop an intruding customer, you worked hard to be where you are, and if you allow a customer to do what they please, they'll only ruin your scene or someone's body.